I'd have to say these were better than the D'addario's that came stock with my guitar. I can get a better pick scrape sound with these strings, and the best part is it doesn't come off that easily. Sure I have some gray spots showing, but I tried scraping it off the string and couldn't.

When I first strung these strings on my guitar, it didn't sound too good. But give it a day of being tuned, then retune it. Your friends will envy these strings because yes, they are literally black. They give perfect tone, really good. Don't overtune them though because they break easy under tension.